Jimmy Kimmel isn't putting his interview with James Talarico on television. Not this time.

On Wednesday's episode of "Jimmy Kimmel Live," the host told viewers his sit-down with the Texas state representative, now running for the US Senate as a Democrat, would air exclusively on YouTube. The broadcast version simply won't exist.

"Out of consideration for our local stations, especially our ABC affiliates in Texas who would have to deal with this nonsense, my interview tomorrow with James Talarico will not air on television," Kimmel said. "It will be posted on YouTube instead. It will not be on TV."

He framed it as damage control. For over two decades, Kimmel pointed out, candidates for office have come through late-night without incident, going back to Letterman, Leno and Arsenio Hall. Kimmel himself interviewed Donald Trump in 2015 while Trump was running for president, and again in 2016. No issue then.

"But for some reason, and I can't seem to figure out what that reason is, something has changed now that he is president," Kimmel said, adding that the FCC under chairman Brendan Carr has "threatened me, threatened our show, threatened our network, ABC, our affiliates, our local stations" over what he called ordinary editorial calls on guest bookings.

This isn't a one-off. In February, Stephen Colbert was told by CBS lawyers he couldn't air his own Talarico interview, a preemptive move tied to the FCC's push to apply its equal-time rule to late-night shows. That block backfired spectacularly for the FCC's apparent aims. Talarico's campaign pulled in $2.5 million in the 24 hours after Colbert revealed the interview was spiked, and the YouTube upload alone drew 9.5 million views, according to Variety.

The FCC's run at ABC has been broader than one interview. The agency has gone after the licenses of ABC's eight owned-and-operated stations, pushed ABC to act against Kimmel last year, and opened a formal review of whether "The View" qualifies for an equal-time exemption. ABC has since sued the FCC, calling it an "extraordinary assault" on the network's free-speech rights.

The FCC's version of events is different. Per TheWrap, the agency said Friday that its decision to accelerate license renewals for the ABC stations had nothing to do with programming complaints and instead traced back to an ongoing investigation into alleged discriminatory employment practices at Disney and ABC. Make of that timing what you will.

Kimmel didn't sound especially reassured. "Thank goodness we have that," he said of YouTube, "because in the America we live in right now, that is the best that we can do until November." He closed the segment the way Colbert effectively did too, telling viewers to register to vote.

The Talarico interview goes up on the Jimmy Kimmel Live YouTube channel Thursday night. Whether it repeats the Colbert bump in donations and views is the thing to watch next, and whether the ABC-FCC lawsuit forces a clearer answer on who's really deciding what airs on network TV.